Fall armyworms, Spodoptera frugiperda, are chronic insect pests in the state, with more than 60 plants reported as hosts, including various pasture grasses (and lawns) and agronomic crops including corn, alfalfa, cotton, soybeans, grain sorghum, and rice. They migrate to Louisiana from neighboring regions like Florida, Texas, Caribbean islands, and Central-South America, with infestations most common from late July to early August.
Read MoreThe 86th International Rice Festival has selected Christian and Julie Richard as the 2023 Farmers of the Year.
The Richards will join the Presidential Party for the 2023 festivities. The annual event is the oldest and largest agricultural festival in Louisiana.
This year’s festival will be held Oct. 19 to 22 in downtown Crowley.
Read More"This is just another example of India playing games with global food security, citing concerns over domestic supplies despite tens of millions of metric tons in government stocks in addition to what's stored privately," said Bobby Hanks, a Louisiana rice miller and chair of the USA Rice International Trade Policy Committee.
Read MoreSouthern Louisiana is experiencing one of its hottest and driest summers in recent history which has affected one of Louisiana's biggest industries, rice farms.
Read More“Hey, did you hear about the rice shortage news? You need to go stock up right now!” was the panicked call 27-year-old Sowmya Akshara, a resident of Sacramento, California, received from a friend around 3 pm on Friday, July 21. Shortly after, she rushed to the local Indian grocery store only to be met with empty shelves. This was the plight of several others across the United States after the Indian government revised its export policy on Thursday to ban the export of certain varieties of rice.
Read MoreTerns lifted off from the rice field, a raccoon hunched across the road and the sun dropped another few inches while Paul Johnson thought about his greatest challenge as a farmer. Maybe he had to think about sorting through many to choose one.
Read MoreHot, sunny weather has quickly matured rice crops across Louisiana, and combines will soon begin harvesting what is expected to be a good crop for growers. LSU AgCenter reporter Craig Gautreaux has the story from southwest Louisiana.
Read MoreHow do you nurture the soil, feed hungry bodies, and heal hurt people and places in these stressed-out times? In Central Louisiana, on five acres of what was once a cotton plantation called “Hard Times,” a network of Black farmers is leading an experiment in rice-growing, regeneration and repair.
Read MoreIt’s been a busy week for the rice industry in Louisiana and Texas, with field days and meetings wrapping up just in time for growers to get back in the field. In Louisiana, that means harvesting fields of the varieties Avant, DG263L and PVL03.
Read MoreIdentifying climate-smart strategies for water management is the goal of a three-year rice production study funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Changyoon Jeong, LSU AgCenter water quality specialist, will lead the study at the Red River Research Station in Bossier City and the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station in Crowley
Read MoreMichael Frugé dreamed of improving the quality of rice offered by U.S. brands.
The LSU AgCenter visualized a world where poverty-stricken people with diets heavy on rice could get more protein.
Read MoreDespite myriad forces facing rice farmers in 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) now projects that about 1.311 million acres of the crop have been planted in Arkansas. That’s nearly 200,000 more acres than were planted in 2022, according to the latest NASS report released June 30.
Nationally, about 2.687 million acres have been planted, a nearly 400,000-acre uptick since the last growing season. California ranks second in rice production with 478,000 acres, while Louisiana ranks third with about 460,000 acres.
Read MoreRice harvest is already under way in the Everglades Agricultural Area of southern Florida and will soon begin in southwest Louisiana and in Texas, west of Houston.
Florida Crystals in western Palm Beach County began harvest late last week with their medium grain variety Titan. While it is too early to gauge the crop as yet, yields appear promising.
Read MoreThe hot and dry summer we’ve been experiencing is likely to limit the yields for some of the state’s key crops, like rice. Louisiana Rice Specialist Ronnie Levy with the LSU Ag Center said if planted late in the season, anything flowering now could affect pollination.
Read MoreWith a heat wave gripping Louisiana, scores of farmers sweated, sipped water and shaded themselves with hats and event programs as they toured the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station during its annual field day June 28.
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